Fantasy Football: Start or sit for Panthers vs. Lions

Fantasy Football: Start or sit for Panthers vs. Lions

The 3-1 Carolina Panthers will be on the road again Sunday going against the 3-1 Detroit Lions at Ford Field in what should be the NFL’s marquee matchup for Week 5.

If you like punting, chances are you’re going to have a great time watching. If you’re a fantasy football fanatic, not so much.

Here’s a look at who to start and (mostly) sit this week for both teams.

QB: Sit Cam Newton and Matt Stafford

Newton’s fantasy owners must have been sweating heading into last week’s matchup with the Patriots. He finally came through with four touchdowns and 360 total yards. That doesn’t mean he’s worth a start this week, though. So far, Detroit has only allowed four passing touchdowns this year to go with seven interceptions. They’ve also given up just one rushing yard to opposing QBs. Sit Newton and come back another time.

On the other side, Stafford has had a strong season but he hasn’t yet had to play a dominant defense like Carolina’s. So far the Panthers are only allowing 13.8 fantasy points to QBs per game, which is not as good as the Lions (10.7), but still makes them one of the top fantasy defenses this year.

RB: Sit Jonathan Stewart and Ameer Abdullah, start CMC

More of the same here. The Lions and Panthers both play solid run defense too, with both teams allowing less than 88 rushing yards per game. Stewart and Abdullah haven’t proven they can really produce against those odds.

As usual, Christian McCaffrey should be in your lineup regardless of matchups. He should be good for at least 100 yards from scrimmage.

WR: Start Kelvin Benjamin and Golden Tate

If not McCaffrey, somebody will eventually find the end zone. The fact that Benjamin has thus far been held scoreless is a serious indictment of Mike Shula’s offense given how well he’s played. Detroit’s defense is only average-at-best against wide receivers in fantasy this year and Benjamin is long overdue for a breakout game.

For the Lions, Tate has become Stafford’s new favorite target since Calvin Johnson’s retirement. His numbers this year might be underwhelming for a WR2, but they also don’t reflect how well he has played. Tate will present big matchup problems, especially if Daryl Worley is not 100 percent yet.

TE: Sit Eric Ebron and Ed Dickson

Nothing to see here.

D/ST: Start Panthers and Lions

As you can tell, we are expecting an old-fashioned, low-scoring kind of a game. Both Carolina and Detroit are among the top eight plays for fantasy defenses this week. Either one should be a quality start.